Continuous yarn winding apparatus

ABSTRACT

A winder assembly for continuously taking up a textile strand onto one of two displaceable, self-supporting bobbins at high speed without interruption of the take-up of the strand. The strand is fed between nip rollers and upon transfer from one bobbin to the other is directed between one of the nip rollers and a displaceable transfer roll, the displaceable transfer roll being moved into engagement with one of the nip rollers before transfer.

O l i United States Patent 1 1111 3,758,042 Sear 1 1 Sept. 11, 1973 4]CONTINUOUS YARN WINDING 3,118,625 1/1964 Kuster 242/18 A P TUS 3,165,2741/1965 Priest 3,279,904 l0/l966 Russell et al 242/18 A [75] Inventor:Stuart B. Sear, Gastonia, NC.

[73] Assignee: Petty Machine Company, Inc., Primary Examinero"stanleyGllreath Gastonia, NC. Attorney-David Rabin [22] Filed: Oct. 14 1971ABSTRACT [21] Appl' 189,185 A winder assembly for continuously taking upa textile strand onto one of two displaceable, self-supporting [52] US.Cl 242/18 A bobbins at high Speed Without inmrruptit)" of the take- 51Int. Cl B65h 54/02 p of the strand- The Strand is fed between p roller-h58 Field of Search 242/18 A, 25 A and upon transfer from one bobbin t0the other is rected between one of the nip rollers and a displaceable 5References Cited transfer roll, the displaceable transfer roll beingmoved UNITED STATES PATENTS into engagement with one of the nip rollersbefore t f 2,905,402 9/l959 Foller et al. 242/18 A tans er 2,957,63510/1960 Bisbe 242/18 A 8Claims, 7 Drawing Figures I Win 1 l 1 l lPAIENTEDSEPI 1 Im 3.758.042

sum 1 or 2 Waxy INVENTOR STUART B. SEAR PATENTEDSEPI 1 m 7 3.758.042

' saw a nr 2 INVENTOR STUART B. SEAR BRIEF SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THEINVENTION In the manufacture of synthetic yarns it is necessary toprovide a means for taking up continuously single and multifilamentstrands at high speed and to wind the strands onto self-supportingbobbins at various stages in the manufacturing processes. In wet and dryspun processes it is often impractical or undesirable, because ofassociated thermal events in the process, to interrupt the delivery ofthe strand to the winder bobbins. It is often necessary to divert thestrand to a waste collection system, or to a spare winding system, eachtime that it is necessary to doff a completely wound bobbin of yarn froma winder. Also, it is often necessary to pre- I cisely control theweight of the bobbins, to avoid waste in subsequent strand treatmentprocesses, thereby often requiring elaborate schedules for doffing fullbobbins from a multiplicity of machines having many winding stations. 7g

The quality of the yarn and the efficiency of theprocess also isdependent upon the degree of skill that an operator acquires inthreading a strand winder during doffing operations; Also, suchoperations require careful and continous supervision.

The present invention enables the strand which has been wound on onewinding bobbin to be automatically transferred to a second or sparewinding bobbin on the same machine without interruption or change in therate of take-up of the textile strand and without significant waste.

Briefly, according to the present invention, the strand is traversed,either by a reciprocating guide or a grooved traverse roll, onto thesurface of one or two nip rolls, one nip roll being driven and the otherbeing spring-biased against and driven by the first roll. The machineincludes two mandrels, which may be of the expansible type, forreceiving and accurately holding winding tubes or bobbins thereon. Eachmandrel is mounted on a pivoting or sliding carriage, the carriage beingsymmetrically arranged on either side of an imaginary line drawn throughthe nip formed by the two nip rolls. The mandrels are rotated due tosurface contacts between the bobbins mounted thereon and the nip rolls.The textile strand is guided by the traverse roll or guide onto thesurface of one of the two nip rolls and is further carried through thenip and over a portion of either the driver or driven nip roll beforebeing taken up on the bobbin in frictional driving contact with thedriver or driven roll. As yarn accumulates on the tube or bobbin, themandrel and carriage assembly moves away from the nip roll during thepackage so that essentially the same surface contact pressure ismaintained between the nip roll and the strand wound on the bobbin. Oncethe winder has been initially threaded, means are provided forautomatically successively deflecting the strand from one bobbin to theother to form packages. It will not be necessary to re-thread the winderagain except for reasons of malfunction or interruption of the supply ofstrand to the winder.

One of the primary objects of the invention is the provision ofapparatus for winding up a textile strand onto successive bobbinswithout interruption.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a bobbin windingapparatus for reducing yarn waste.

- roll;

Still another object of the invention is to reduce the exposure ofoperators to hazardous yarn transfer procedures associated with highspeed winding of heavy industrial and other textile threads.

Other feature of the invention is the reduction of the number ofoperators necessary to operate a multistation winding operation in asynthetic yarn manufacturing facility.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be readily apparentto those skilled in the art during the course of the following detaileddescription.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES FIG. 1 is a front elevational view ofthe winding machine, with parts broken away, illustrating the nip rolls,thewinding mandrels and means for imparting movement to the windingmandrels and the transfer roll;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary, perspective view of the drive arrangement forthe nip rolls and the traverse roll;

FIG. 3 is a schematic, front elevationalview of the strand winder withthe strand being guided between the nip rolls and onto the right take-uptube and mandrel;

FIG. 4 is a schematic, front elevational view of the winder, similar toFIG. 3, with the right take-up mandrel being disengaged from the niproll, the transfer roll being driven due to its engagement with theother nip FIG. 5 is a schematic, front elevational view of the strand asit is broken intermediate the transfer roll and the take-up mandrel, theend of the strand being fed between the transfer roll and the nip rollerinto engagement with the left take-up mandrel;

FIG. 6 is a schematic,-front elevational view of the winder as strandbegins to wind upon the left mandrel; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic, front elevational view of the winder with thetransfer roll disengaged from the left mandrel and the right mandrelhaving the package doffed therefrom.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to FIG. 1 of thedrawing, the winder 10 includes a pair of nip rolls 12 and 1.4, atransfer roll 16 and a pair of winding mandrels l8 and 20 supported by amachine frame 22.

The nip roll 12 is mounted in a cantilevered fashion upon a shaft 24suppoted by the machine frame 22.'The shaft 24 is driven by a motor 26through pulleys 28, 30, and a belt 32. The cantilevered nip roll 14 isrotatably mounted upon the machine frame by a shaft 15 supported in aspring loaded slide assembly 34. During a winding operation, the roll 14is always in engagement with a roll 12 such that the roll 14 isfrictionally dirven by the roll 12. The roll 12 preferably is chromeplated steel while the roll 14 is rubber covered.

The mandrels l8 and'20 mounted upon shafts l9 and 21 secured to swingarms 36 and 38, respectively, which swing arms are pivotally secured tothe machine frame 22. The shafts 19, 21 extend through arcuate slots 25provided in the front plate 27 of the machine frame 22. The arms 36 and38 are actuated by double action fluid cylinders 40 and 42,respectively. Thecylinders 40 and 42 control the swing arms so as tomaintain a predetermined pressure between the strand packages and thenip rolls l2, l4 and to compensate for the change in the diameters ofthe yarn packages. Preferably the mandrels 18 and 20 are of theexpansible type to hold or release bobbins or tubes for doffing anddonning operations.

The yarn or strand transfer roll 16 is normally centered below the nipformed by rolls 12 and 14 and is adapted to be moved into drivingengagement with either roll 12 or roll 14. The freely rotatable roll 12is mounted upon a swing arm 44 pivotally mounted at 46 upon the machineframe 22. The lower end of the swing arm 44 is coupled to a doubleaction fluid cylinder 48 and a spring arrangement 50. The cylinder 48,which is fixed to a bracket 49 on frame 22, is adapted to shift the arm44 in either direction, as shown by the arrows, while the springarrangement 50 acts to position the arm 44 in a central position withtransfer roll 16 disengaged from the rolls l2 and 14. The springarrangement may comprise an angle plate 52 fixed to the machine frame 22and having an opening therethrough for receiving a rod or shaft 53, FIG.3, which has a top member 54 on the outer end thereof. Springs 56 and 58are mounted in surrounding relation to the rod 53 on each side of theangle plate 52.

Located above the roll 12 is a roll 60 for traversing the strand beforeit is wound into a package. The traverse roll 62 is driven from a shaft62 and pulley 64, the pulley 64 being driven from the belt 32, as shownmore clearly in FIG. 2. While a grooved roll 60 has been disclosed fortraversing the strand, it is to be understood that other types oftraverses, including reciprocating guides, may be used.

Referring to FIG. 1, a strand S, produced in a known manner, is directedover the traverse roll 60, over roll 12, and into the nip formed by therolls 12 and 14 and onto the package P-l supported by mandrel 20. Thestrand S is wound upon a roughened tube or bobbin 62 mounted upon themandrel 20. The swing arms 38, supporting package P-l, is urged upwardlyby the fluid cylinder 42 such that the package is in driven engagementwith the nip roll 14. It is to be noted that the doffed mandrel 18 is ina retracted position durin the winding of package P-l and that thetransfer roll 16 is out of engagement with rolls 12 and 14.

It is a known fact by those skilled in the art that when a strand passesthrough a pair of nip rolls, such as rolls 12 and 14, the strand willcontinue in a straight line, on the downstream side of the nip rolls, byreason of its own momentum coincident with the tangent drawn through thepoint of contact between the nip rolls unless otherwise restrained bytension acting in either direction. The transferring of the strand fromone winding position to the other depends substantially upon this fact.

The sequence of events to complete the transfer of the strand S frommandrel 20 to mandrel 18 will be described in conjunction with FIGS.3-7. Upon winding of the package P-l, FIG. 1, to substantially thedesired weight or size, actuation of various components of the machineare initiated, as shown by FIG. 3. The fluid cylinder 40 is actuated toswing the mandrel 18, having a bobbin 64 mounted thereon, into drivingengagement with the roll 12 such that the surface speed of the bobbin 64is equal to the speed of the strand S passing through the nip rolls 12,14. In addition, fluid cylinder 48 is actuated to swing the arm 44 andtransfer roll 16 to the left such that the transfer roll 16 also is indriving engagement with the nip roll 12. Note the compression of spring58.

At this point, the package P-1 and mandrel 20 are moved away from roll14 by the fluid cylinder 42 thereby disengaging the friction drive tothe package P-l as shown by FIG. 4. Since the drive to the package isdisengaged, the package beings to slow down due to air drag and frictionin-the mandrel bearings. As the bobbin 62 slows down the tension in thestrand S reduces until it no longer follows the periphery of nip roll 14but is propelled downwardly in a substantially straight line to impingeupon the transfer roll 16, as shown by FIG. 4.

FIG. 5 shows a stage still later in the transfer cycle. Sufficient slackin the strand S has developed to form a loop 66 which is fed into thenip between the counterclockwise rotating transfer roll 16 and theclockwise rotating drive roll 12 due to the drag between the loop andthe surface of transfer roll 16. At this instant, the strand connectingthis loop to bobbin 62 is broken intermediate the package P-1 and thetransfer roll 16.

In FIG. 6, the loop 66 now is shown firmly held in the nip between thebobbin 64 and the roll 12. The surface finish of bobbin 64 is relativelyrough compared to the surface finish of roll 12 and a few filaments ofthe strand S will become embedded in the surfaceof the bobbin 64 due tothe ironing action in the nip between bobbin 64 and roll 12. Sufficiententanglement of a few filaments with the surface of bobbin 64 normallyoccurs for the complete strand to continue to be carried by the surfaceof the bobbin 64 and therefore to continue to wind on the bobbinsurface.

Once the strand S begins to wind on bobbin 64, the pressure within thedouble action fluid cylinder is released thereby permitting the spring58 to expand and center the lever 44 thereby disengaging the transferroll from the nip roll 12, as shown by FIG. 7. The righthand package P-lis now removed from the mandrel 20 and a new bobbin has been placedthereon for a subsequent transfer operation.

After the package P-2 on mandrel 18 has reached the desired size, themandrel 20, having an empty bobbin thereon, is moved into drivingengagement with nip roll 14 and the transfer roll 16 is urged intodriving engagement with roll 14 due to the action of double actingcylinder 48. As the roll 16 and lever 44 move to the right, spring 53 iscompressed. As the package P-2 moves out of engagement with nip roll 12,the strand S is broken,

similar to the manner previously described, and the strand again beginsto wind on the new bobbin mounted upon mandrel 20.

Control means, not shown, are provided for the successivemovements ofthe mandrel swing arm fluid cylinders 40 and 42 and for the stranddeflecting transfer roll fluid cylinder 48. Control means also may beprovided for expanding and contracting the expansible mandrels duringbobbin doffing and donning operacry of the package. While the inventionas described herein refers to manual removal of the full bobbins fromthe mandrels and the placement of empty bobbins on the mandrels, thepresent arrangement lends itself for such operations tobe automated.

I claim 1. An apparatus for continuously winding strand withoutinterruption comprising; a pair of mandrels, each having a bobbinthereon and adapted to receive strand for forming yarn packages, driveroll means including at least one pair of drive rolls defining a nip forfeeding strand therebetween, discrete means for displacing each of saidbobbins from a position wherein the bobbin is in surface drivenengagement with and defines a nip with one roll of said drive roll meansto a bobbin doffing and donning position spaced from said drive rollmeans, and strand transfer means displaceable from a position spacedfrom said pair of rolls of said drive roll means ,to positionsin-engagement with said drive roll means and intermediate the nipdefined by said pair of rolls and a nip formed by one of said driverolls and one of said bobbins for feeding and transferring the strandfrom a strand package supported on one bobbin to the other bobbin toinitiate the winding of a new package.

2. An apparatus for continuously winding strand without interruption asrecited in claim 1, and further including strand traversing means fordirecting the strand over one roll of said pair of rolls and onto one ofsaid pair of displaceable bobbins for traversing the strand back andforth along a package.

3. An apparatus for continuously winding strand without interruption asrecited in claim 1, said strand transferring means including an idlerroller displaceable to contact successively and be driven by one or theother of said pair of drive rolls.

4. An apparatus for continuously winding strand without interruption'asrecited in claim 3, wherein said transfer roller forms a nip with one ofsaid pair of drive rolls to deflect the strand being conveyed by thedrive rolls and impinge the strand onto the surface of one of saiddisplaceable bobbins.

5. An apparatus for continuously winding strand strand as recited inclaim 7, wherein the strand extendwithout interruption as recited inclaim 1, wherein said strand transfer means includes an elongatedpivotable member having an idler roller mounted thereon, and means fordisplacing said transfer roller to initiate the strand winding on abobbin.

6. An apparatus for continuously winding strand without interruption asrecited in claim 1, wherein said bobbins and mandrels supported in;cantilivered fashion upon arm members, said arm members being displacedby fluid means secured thereto.

7. The method of continously winding a continuous strand into packagescomprising the steps of; gripping and feeding a strand through a firstnip, directing the strand in a first arcuate path through a second nipto a bobbin package, frictionally driving, at a selected speed, thebobbin package to wind strand thereon, positioning a bobbin inperipheral engagement witlh a roll, frictionally driving the bobbin fromthe roll at substantially the same peripheral speed as the bobbinpackage, forming a third nip intermediate the first and second nips,displacing the bobbin package to terminate the friction drive theretowhile continuously feeding the strandat the selected speed through thefirst nip to form a loop portion within the strand, gripping .the strandloop portion and directing the strand through the third nip to thebobbin, frictionally rotating the bobbin at said selected speed whiledirecting the strand through the third nip, and breaking the strandextending between the third nip and the wound bobbin package.

8. The method of continuously winding a continuous

1. An apparatus for continuously winding strand without interruptioncomprising; a pair of mandrels, each having a bobbin thereon and adaptedto receive strand for forming yarn packages, drive roll means includingat least one pair of drive rolls defining a nip for feeding strandtherebetween, discrete means for displacing each of said bobbins from aposition wherein the bobbin is in surface driven engagement with anddefines a nip with one roll of said drive roll means to a bobbin doffingand donning position spaced from said drive roll means, and strandtransfer means displaceable from a position spaced from said pair ofrolls of said drive roll means to positions in engagement with saiddrive roll means and intermediate the nip defined by said pair of rollsand a nip formed by one of said drive rolls and one of said bobbins forfeeding and transferring the strand from a strand package supported onone bobbin to the other bobbin to initiate the winding of a new package.2. An apparatus for continuously winding strand without interruption asrecited in claim 1, and further including strand traversing means fordirecting the strand over one roll of said pair of rolls and onto one ofsaid pair of displaceable bobbins for traversing the strand back andforth along a package.
 3. An apparatus for continuously winding strandwithout interruption as recited in claim 1, said strand transferringmeans including an idler roller displaceable to contact successively andbe driven by one or the other of said pair of drive rolls.
 4. Anapparatus for continuously winding strand without interruption asrecited in claIm 3, wherein said transfer roller forms a nip with one ofsaid pair of drive rolls to deflect the strand being conveyed by thedrive rolls and impinge the strand onto the surface of one of saiddisplaceable bobbins.
 5. An apparatus for continuously winding strandwithout interruption as recited in claim 1, wherein said strand transfermeans includes an elongated pivotable member having an idler rollermounted thereon, and means for displacing said transfer roller toinitiate the strand winding on a bobbin.
 6. An apparatus forcontinuously winding strand without interruption as recited in claim 1,wherein said bobbins and mandrels supported in cantilivered fashion uponarm members, said arm members being displaced by fluid means securedthereto.
 7. The method of continously winding a continuous strand intopackages comprising the steps of; gripping and feeding a strand througha first nip, directing the strand in a first arcuate path through asecond nip to a bobbin package, frictionally driving, at a selectedspeed, the bobbin package to wind strand thereon, positioning a bobbinin peripheral engagement with a roll, frictionally driving the bobbinfrom the roll at substantially the same peripheral speed as the bobbinpackage, forming a third nip intermediate the first and second nips,displacing the bobbin package to terminate the friction drive theretowhile continuously feeding the strand at the selected speed through thefirst nip to form a loop portion within the strand, gripping the strandloop portion and directing the strand through the third nip to thebobbin, frictionally rotating the bobbin at said selected speed whiledirecting the strand through the third nip, and breaking the strandextending between the third nip and the wound bobbin package.
 8. Themethod of continuously winding a continuous strand as recited in claim7, wherein the strand extending to the bobbin package is brokensubstantially simultaneously with the transferring of the strand to thebobbin.